Get selected text from a drop-down list (select box) using jQuery

Question

How can I get the selected text (not the selected value) from a drop-down list in jQuery?

Just my two cents: An "ASP" drop-down is no special; it's just good old HTML. :-) — ankush981, Jun 4, 2015 at 6:20
One can refer this article: javascriptstutorial.com/blog/… — Dilip Kumar Yadav, Oct 18, 2016 at 12:02
for vanilla javascript way, see stackoverflow.com/a/5947/32453 — rogerdpack, Jan 18, 2017 at 19:27
Just $(this).prop('selected', true); replaced .att to .prop it worked for all browsers — Shahid Hussain Abbasi, Jan 12, 2019 at 11:13

rahul · Accepted Answer · 2009-10-29 12:05:38Z

4029

$("#yourdropdownid option:selected").text();

answered Oct 29, 2009 at 12:05

rahul

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218

I think this should be $("#yourdropdownid").children("option").filter(":selected").text() since is() returns a boolean of whether the object matches the selector or not.
– MHollis
May 18, 2012 at 14:04
45

I second the comment about is() returning a boolen; alternatively, use the following small alteration: $('#yourdropdownid').children("option:selected").text();
– scubbo
Jun 12, 2012 at 14:56
104

$('select').children(':selected') is the fastest way: jsperf.com/get-selected-option-text
– Seimen
Apr 24, 2013 at 13:51
And if have scape caracteres like \n \t you can add .trim() getting like this: $("#yourdropdownid option:selected").text().trim();
– Leffa
Apr 22, 2022 at 20:39

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kgiannakakis · Accepted Answer · 2009-10-29 12:04:28Z

290

Try this:

$("#myselect :selected").text();

For an ASP.NET dropdown you can use the following selector:

$("[id*='MyDropDownId'] :selected")

answered Oct 29, 2009 at 12:04

kgiannakakis

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Peter Mortensen · Accepted Answer · 2015-02-28 08:52:31Z

238

The answers posted here, for example,

$('#yourdropdownid option:selected').text();

didn't work for me, but this did:

$('#yourdropdownid').find('option:selected').text();

It is possibly an older version of jQuery.

edited Feb 28, 2015 at 8:52

Peter Mortensen

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answered Mar 19, 2012 at 11:41

JYX

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Nouman Bhatti · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-12 07:22:38Z

120

If you already have the dropdownlist available in a variable, this is what works for me:

$("option:selected", myVar).text()

The other answers on this question helped me, but ultimately the jQuery forum thread $(this + "option:selected").attr("rel") option selected is not working in IE helped the most.

Update: fixed the above link

edited May 12, 2016 at 7:22

Nouman Bhatti

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answered Feb 4, 2012 at 5:17

Kirk Liemohn

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``` <script> $(document).ready(function() { $("#submit").click(function() { var value = $("#myselection option:selected"); alert(value.text()); }); }); </script> ``` <br> Link: geeksforgeeks.org/…
– Dushyant Singh
Jul 22, 2022 at 19:47

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Prabhagaran · Accepted Answer · 2017-08-01 07:59:04Z

81

This works for me

$("#dropdownid").change(function() {
    alert($(this).find("option:selected").text());
});

If the element created dynamically

$(document).on("change", "#dropdownid", function() {
    alert($(this).find("option:selected").text());
});

edited Aug 1, 2017 at 7:59

answered Aug 14, 2015 at 11:12

Prabhagaran

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Muhammad Usman · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-17 18:21:59Z

69

$("option:selected", $("#TipoRecorde")).text()

edited Jan 17, 2012 at 18:21

Muhammad Usman

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answered Aug 16, 2011 at 17:56

Rafael

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Peter Mortensen · Accepted Answer · 2015-02-28 08:56:48Z

56

This works for me:

$('#yourdropdownid').find('option:selected').text();

jQuery version: 1.9.1

edited Feb 28, 2015 at 8:56

Peter Mortensen

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answered Sep 25, 2013 at 7:36

Binita Bharati

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Aziz Shaikh · Accepted Answer · 2011-11-14 09:34:54Z

54

$("#DropDownID").val() will give the selected index value.

edited Nov 14, 2011 at 9:34

Aziz Shaikh

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answered Nov 14, 2011 at 9:22

Neeraj

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40

Not exactly the answer to the question, but was useful for me. The question wants the selected text.
– Peter
Nov 28, 2011 at 14:50
@Neeraj, thank you for the answer. I discovered that val() != text() and in case when you have more then one value you will get something like.... '\n\tBYELORUSSIAN\n\tCATALAN\n\tCHINESESIMPLIFIED\n\tCHINESETRADITIONAL\n\tCROATIAN\n\tCZECH\n\tDANISH\n\tDUTCH\n\tESPERANTO\n\tESTONIAN\n\tFINNISH\n\tFRENCH\n\tGALICIAN\n\tGERMA'
– Roman Denisenko
Feb 14, 2023 at 9:11

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Milap · Accepted Answer · 2016-06-29 12:02:14Z

44

For the text of the selected item, use:

$('select[name="thegivenname"] option:selected').text();

For the value of the selected item, use:

$('select[name="thegivenname"] option:selected').val();

edited Jun 29, 2016 at 12:02

Milap

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answered Jan 24, 2013 at 23:22

Kamrul

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Justin Lessard · Accepted Answer · 2019-11-22 14:30:17Z

41

Use this

const select = document.getElementById("yourSelectId");

const selectedIndex = select.selectedIndex;
const selectedValue = select.value;
const selectedText = select.options[selectedIndex].text;

Then you get your selected value and text inside selectedValue and selectedText.

edited Nov 22, 2019 at 14:30

Justin Lessard

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answered May 14, 2015 at 14:21

Mohammed Shaheen MK

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MD SHAHIDUL ISLAM · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-03 19:39:08Z

35

Various ways

1. $("#myselect option:selected").text();

2. $("#myselect :selected").text();

3. $("#myselect").children(":selected").text();

4. $("#myselect").find(":selected").text();

answered Aug 3, 2014 at 19:39

MD SHAHIDUL ISLAM

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124 · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-01 05:55:09Z

32

$("#dropdownID").change(function(){
  alert($('option:selected', $(this)).text());
});

answered Feb 1, 2014 at 5:55

124

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Vivek · Accepted Answer · 2011-02-02 12:28:44Z

31

var someName = "Test";

$("#<%= ddltest.ClientID %>").each(function () {
    $('option', this).each(function () {
        if ($(this).text().toLowerCase() == someName) {
            $(this).attr('selected', 'selected')
        };
    });
});

That will help you to get right direction. Above code is fully tested if you need further help let me know.

edited Feb 2, 2011 at 12:28

Vivek

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answered Oct 7, 2010 at 10:09

Zarni

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Peter Mortensen · Accepted Answer · 2015-03-21 13:56:07Z

20

For those who are using SharePoint lists and don't want to use the long generated id, this will work:

var e = $('select[title="IntenalFieldName"] option:selected').text();

edited Mar 21, 2015 at 13:56

Peter Mortensen

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answered Nov 5, 2013 at 21:38

FAA

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Naveenbos · Accepted Answer · 2020-02-13 16:17:09Z

20

This code worked for me.

$("#yourdropdownid").children("option").filter(":selected").text();

answered Feb 13, 2020 at 16:17

Naveenbos

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Works too! And if have scape caracteres like \n \t you can add .trim() getting like this: $("#yourdropdownid").children("option").filter(":selected").text().trim();
– Leffa
Apr 22, 2022 at 20:39

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Peter Mortensen · Accepted Answer · 2015-02-28 08:58:50Z

17

 $("#selectID option:selected").text();

Instead of #selectID you can use any jQuery selector, like .selectClass using class.

As mentioned in the documentation here.

The :selected selector works for <option> elements. It does not work for checkboxes or radio inputs; use :checked for them.

.text() As per the documentation here.

Get the combined text contents of each element in the set of matched elements, including their descendants.

So you can take text from any HTML element using the .text() method.

Refer the documentation for a deeper explanation.

edited Feb 28, 2015 at 8:58

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jan 30, 2014 at 14:29

Nikhil Agrawal

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Thangamani Palanisamy · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-23 10:23:52Z

16

$("select[id=yourDropdownid] option:selected").text()

This works fine

edited Apr 23, 2013 at 10:23

answered Apr 23, 2013 at 10:04

Thangamani Palanisamy

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shyamm · Accepted Answer · 2019-12-17 06:50:30Z

16

$("#dropdown").find(":selected").text();


$("#dropdown :selected").text();

$("#dropdown option:selected").text();

$("#dropdown").children(":selected").text();

answered Dec 17, 2019 at 6:50

shyamm

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Vishal Thakur · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-09 07:03:10Z

14

Try:

$var = jQuery("#dropdownid option:selected").val();
   alert ($var);

Or to get the text of the option, use text():

$var = jQuery("#dropdownid option:selected").text();
   alert ($var);

More Info:

answered Mar 9, 2017 at 7:03

Vishal Thakur

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Muddasir23 · Accepted Answer · 2018-11-13 06:03:43Z

14

Simply try the following code.

var text= $('#yourslectbox').find(":selected").text();

it returns the text of the selected option.

answered Nov 13, 2018 at 6:03

Muddasir23

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Nikul · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-11 09:39:05Z

13

$('#id').find('option:selected').text();

answered Apr 11, 2015 at 9:39

Nikul

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Mojtaba · Accepted Answer · 2016-01-23 09:07:31Z

13

For getting selected value use

$('#dropDownId').val();

and for getting selected item text use this line:

$("#dropDownId option:selected").text();

answered Jan 23, 2016 at 9:07

Mojtaba

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Milap · Accepted Answer · 2016-06-29 12:01:50Z

13

Select Text and selected value on dropdown/select change event in jQuery

$("#yourdropdownid").change(function() {
    console.log($("option:selected", this).text()); //text
    console.log($(this).val()); //value
})

edited Jun 29, 2016 at 12:01

Milap

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answered Nov 19, 2015 at 5:36

Sandeep Shekhawat

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Kalaivani M · Accepted Answer · 2017-01-04 12:53:48Z

12

var e = document.getElementById("dropDownId");
var div = e.options[e.selectedIndex].text;

answered Jan 4, 2017 at 12:53

Kalaivani M

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Peter Mortensen · Accepted Answer · 2014-11-29 09:35:43Z

9

Use:

('#yourdropdownid').find(':selected').text();

edited Nov 29, 2014 at 9:35

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jul 31, 2014 at 15:11

kishore

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Mohammad Dayyan · Accepted Answer · 2015-09-17 05:13:23Z

8

the following worked for me:

$.trim($('#dropdownId option:selected').html())

answered Sep 17, 2015 at 5:13

Mohammad Dayyan

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Mhandzkie · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-09 02:00:43Z

7

This work for me:

$("#city :selected").text();

I'm using jQuery 1.10.2

answered Jul 9, 2015 at 2:00

Mhandzkie

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Milap · Accepted Answer · 2016-06-29 12:03:07Z

7

In sibling case

<a class="uibutton confirm addClient" href="javascript:void(0);">ADD Client</a>
<input type="text" placeholder="Enter client name" style="margin: 5px;float: right" class="clientsearch large" />
<select class="mychzn-select clientList">
  <option value="">Select Client name....</option>
  <option value="1">abc</option>
</select>


 /*jQuery*/
 $(this).siblings('select').children(':selected').text()

edited Jun 29, 2016 at 12:03

Milap

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answered Dec 5, 2014 at 6:33

vineet

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Satinder singh · Accepted Answer · 2016-09-29 04:59:33Z

$(function () {
  alert('.val() = ' + $('#selectnumber').val() + '  AND  html() = ' + $('#selectnumber option:selected').html() + '  AND .text() = ' + $('#selectnumber option:selected').text());
});

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
  <head runat="server">
    <title></title>

  </head>
  <body>
    <form id="form1" runat="server">
      <div>
        <select id="selectnumber">
          <option value="1">one</option>
          <option value="2">two</option>
          <option value="3">three</option>
          <option value="4">four</option>
        </select>

      </div>
    </form>
  </body>
</html>

Kamil Kiełczewski · Accepted Answer · 2020-01-17 17:10:47Z

6

Try

dropdown.selectedOptions[0].text

function read() {
  console.log( dropdown.selectedOptions[0].text );
}

<select id="dropdown">
  <option value="1">First</option>
  <option value="2">Second</option>
</select>
<button onclick="read()">read</button>

answered Jan 17, 2020 at 17:10

Kamil Kiełczewski

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1

Thanks for providing a pure-JS approach.
– Daniel Tonon
Apr 22, 2020 at 0:24

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